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Widely considered the organization’s fastest player, Ford raced into the right-center field gap to catch Francisco Peguero’s line drive for the game’s first out. Ford then led off the inning’s bottom half by tripling to left-center field. He proceeded to score on Kevin Frandsen’s groundout.

Ford slid into third base, but he easily would have been safe had he gone in standing up. Not too many players possess enough speed to hit standup triples to left or left-center. This 24-year-old does.

“It’s always a blessing to go out there,” said Ford, who seems truly humble. “I was given a gift. I’m just using it any way I can, whether it’s offensively or defensively.”

Ford amassed nine triples (while stealing 35 bases) in 380 at-bats while hitting .300 for Class A San Jose. He acknowledged that he was thinking “third base” once he left the batter’s box. It’s a habit for him.

“I try tio go as far as I can until they stop me,” he said.

After Ford scored, John Bowker belted a drive down the right-field line that somehow stayed fair. It was an impressive home run by Bowker, a left-handed hitter who defied the percentages by victimizing left-handed pitcher Clayton Tanner.

That was it for the scoring as Richmond manager Andy Skeels’ “Armed Forces” defeated “Harper’s Heroes,” led by San Jose manager Brian Harper, 2-0 in three innings. Craig Clark, Tony Pena Jr., Dan Turpen, Craig Whitaker and Rafael Cova each pitched a shutout inning.

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